The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-06-25
AN UNSUPPLIEp DEMAND FOR
 MEN,
Hna,nn t.lol,r

Boston Glehc,
 The opening of the season at the seaside and mountain resorts again ". news the complaint that has hccome chronic of hate years, of the scarcity of men. Ladies are moro numerous than ever, many of them young, beautiful, accomplished, wealthy. Even such attractions do not draw the men; they still continue the stubhornest kind oi ahsentces. They arc become q pltas- iug TeminisCcncG tradition almost as fabulous as the eentaur and the unicorn and almost as extinct as the dodo. They arc delightful rccollcc- ton; for. though their voices were harsh, their movements somew hat awkward aud heavy, and their taste. in matters of silk and ribbon, insuttor. ably harharous, yet, like Ryrun's ocean, they werc "nlcaSinv terror and had good points" about them alter all. So. herc at the mountain and Scacoast, Is phenomenon that economists might do well to cNnmine --a demand without n supply; all m- gntidol desirc tor that ohsolcsccnt genus man.
 IL seems in many ways mon are ignorant of their true market values. Therc has grown up complaint dur ing the last few years that desirable mcn do not go into society. The vir- ile, brainy man, of originality and achievement, such as women admire and respect, k seldom secn at parties and So,Tcrs and teas. The antipathy of the average man to fashionable we'd dings k we'll known In short, the average man is careless ot social con vcntionnlities, and K apt to he shy ui all elaborate society displays, In his confidential mood he cohtcsses that he does not feel at home amid such sur roundings. Women are punctllious as to social requirements. but they arc growing tired of tho society of dudes and the pcrinmed masculine eXquisites who frequent the resorts of fashion and society. They are not mon, they are not women they are merely non. dcscript eNpedieuts arrayed in n mod iiieatinn ot the masculine apparel.
 Another fact that has been fre- qucntly commented upon'is tho lcla- lively small number of men who at- tend church. Probably three tourths nt the average sunday congregation is feminine. Go in almost any church. and you will sec bat few men. You will scc an oCcnsioml masculine head half hidden amid the towering iuxu- riancc of millinery. but 1t Is ina lone some minority.
 So ii seems pertinent to inquire the cause of this paucity of the masculIne element In our social, recreat tioml and religious life. The census tells us that there Is but small percentage of women born in excess of men. Are men becoming herInits or dy ing oiiY
 II k sensible to infer that men Hrc not found in socicty, at the summer resort or at the church, bccnuc they do not find what they really need in those places. Recreation at the sca shore for two or three months In the summer K a dawdling and wnsteful expenditure of time that no mhn not given to intellectual sluRgishncss. can tolerate. Society does not interest the average nian, because it k not really helpful to him mentally or, In the high sense of the word, socinlly. Ii is too superficial too much n matter of visits, formalty and etiquette to take any hold upon serious nature. Men absent themselves from church because the church, in many cascs, does not meet the needs of the modern man. He Is just as religious m ever. and, In spite of the vail of the pessimist, is far more moral. But there arc new forces and theories in the modern In- tellectnal world which many of the churches ignore; theories and forces which arouse doubt and questions which the old sermon does not answer.
 In the last quarter century there have been vast strides In the scientific and philosophic departments of thought, which have profoundly stirred the kecncst and bcst minds of the w0rld--new theories and ideas which impinge upon the domain of the thcologian, but which the average clergyman either studiously ignores, or else treats with ilI-dfsguised e0n- tempt. But these theories are in the world, and have secured iodgment in mems minds If they cannot hear them discussed in church, the proper arena for their discussion, they do not care to go. Possibly they may be all wrong in this matter; and possibly there may bc some vestige of reason in their action.
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